Montevideo terror plot suspect's lawyer blasts pretrial publicity

A public defender accused authorities Wednesday of violating federal court rules on pretrial publicity in the arrest of Buford “Bucky” Rogers, who authorities says planned a terror attack on the Montevideo Police Department.

Andrew Mohring, the defender, noted Rogers was arrested on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

“I can’t recall a situation where I’ve seen as much pretrial publicity,” he told U.S. Magistrate Jeanne Graham.

The U.S. attorney’s office has made no reference to terrorism, but the FBI has issued a news release saying “The FBI believes that a terror attack was disrupted by law enforcement personnel.”

Rogers is a member of a group called the Black Snake Militia. Federal sources have said the group was talking about targeting the Montevideo police station.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles J. Kovats told Graham that his office followed the rules and he would do his best to get others from the prosecution team to follow them. Graham said the rules must be followed but could not make a judgment unless a gag order motion was filed. A hearing on whether Rogers should be released was postponed until May 17.

In response to four separate questions by Graham asking if he understood what was occurring in court, Rogers, 24, dressed in a lime green T-shirt and jeans, said, “Yes, ma’am.”